Surprise! Another DNC link to spying on Trump team

Just when you thought the Democratic National Committee’s funding of the dossier used to spy on Trump’s campaign was scandalous, WikiLeaks has revealed another DNC connection to the FISA spying warrant.

As WND reported, the dossier, commissioned by the political research firm Fusion GPS with funding from the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC, was written by former British spy Christopher Steele. According to the recently released House Republicans’ memo, the FBI and Justice Department relied on the Yahoo News story by Isikoff to lend credibility to the dossier.

The source of Isikoff’s Yahoo story was the author of the dossier, Steele, who held personal animus toward Trump, according to the memo, and was “passionate” about ensuring Trump did not become president.

Isikoff claimed Friday that he was surprised to learn his article about ex-Trump aide Carter Page was used by the FBI and the DOJ in the application for a spying warrant, according to the Daily Caller.

“Isikoff was shocked, he said, because his very article was based on information that came from Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the dossier,” the Daily Caller reported. “He said it was ‘a bit beyond me’ that the FBI would use his article in the FISA application.”

So what’s the problem with the DOJ and FBI using his article to support the application for a spying warrant against Page?

“It’s self-referential,” Isikoff said. “My story is about the FBI’s own investigation. So it seems a little odd that they would be citing the Yahoo! News story about the matter that they are investigating themselves based on the same material that had been separately presented to the FBI before I was ever briefed by Christopher Steele.”

It stated, “This article [by Isikoff] does not corroborate the Steele dossier because it is derived from the information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo! News.”

The Daily Caller continued: “Isikoff said that he wonders whether the Republican memo accurately characterized the FISA application or whether the FBI/DOJ were trying to ‘dress up’ the document. The latter scenario would be ’embarrassing’ for U.S. officials, he said.”

Isikoff is the same reporter who nearly broke news of former President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky scandal while he worked at Newsweek two decades ago. But Newsweek spiked the article hours before it was scheduled for print. And then internet news pioneer Matt Drudge famously unleashed the explosive story on The Drudge Report.

Isikoff, who has also worked for the Washington Post and NBC News, is married to Mary Ann Akers, a writer for Politico who has contributed to National Public Radio, the Huffington Post and the Washington Post.